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Hannah Snow
Lady Hannah Snow is the protagonist of Soulmate, the sixth book in L. J. Smith's Night World series. She is an Old Soul, the soulmate and eventual wife of Thierry Descouedres, and is a prominent figure within Circle Daybreak, acting as a co-leader alongside Thierry and Grandma Harman. Ultimate Fan Guide Description "Hannah Snow is probably the most famous Old Soul in the Night World series. She first meets Thierry, her soulmate, in the first lifetime she remembers, when she is Hana of the Three Rivers during the Stone Age. The story of her awakening to her memories is recounted in Soulmate." History Births and Deaths Hannah, as an Old Soul, has been born numerous times in different roles throughout the chain of life. It is unknown when exactly Hannah was born but it is well known that she was born around the Stone Age, during the time of hunting and wearing skins and living in tribes. She was first born as Hana of the Three Rivers and it was in this lifetime that she met her soulmate, Thierry Descouedres (then called Theorn). It is obvious that Hana was held in some respect during this life and was considered the primary candidate as the next leader of her tribe after the wizened Old Mother, the tribe's spiritual authority and co-leader. She was also described as having a beautiful singing voice, "like crystal"; this voice is later heard by the modern-day Hannah when she begins to recall her past lives. When Hana was almost seventeen years old, Theorn, a newly made vampire, was captured by her tribe after being caught drinking the blood of a child, Hana's cousin, Ryl. However, Hana, who pitied him and realized that he is driven to drink blood against his will, freed him, although he was hunted down soon after by the tribe. Hana pleaded with the tribe not to kill him and reacted with horror when they began to torture him. Ultimately, Theorn, due to lack of control, and a violent desire for blood caused by the torture, slaughtered almost all of the tribe. He also accidentally killed Hana, a mistake which Thierry pays a heavy price for over several centuries. As she lay dying, the two realized they are soulmates but it is too late to save her; Hana forgives him for her death and, as her last wish, asks that he never kill again. Thierry held her as she died but, upon brushing a finger against her cheek, he left a bloody mark along the cheekbone; this mark later becomes a "psychic brand", a birthmark which appears on the face of every single one of Hana's reincarnations. Hannah's second lifetime was spent in Egypt as Ha-nakht, a maiden priestess of the goddess Isis. She was a young woman of great beauty and charm, who resided in a temple dedicated to Isis. She was considered unusual due to her fair colouring and blonde hair, in addition to her birthmark. Here she was reunited with Thierry, and was eventually seduced by his charm and the sadness in his eyes, despite priestesses being forbidden from having relations with men. Maya, the first vampire, who was obsessed with Thierry and bitterly jealous of Hana, found Ha-nakht and planted a seed of doubt in the girl's mind regarding Thierry, especially as Ha-nakht had allowed Thierry to drink her blood as a donor, something only noted in evil creatures, known as Ur-Demons. Maya even goes so far as to accuse Thierry of wanting only Ha-nakht's life force. Later on, Maya attacked and killed her in the temple, taking on Thierry's form and carefully imitating Hana's previous death at Thierry's hands. Maya's continued deception and murder of Hana across hundreds of years ultimately causes the girl to presume in future lives that it was Thierry who was constantly killing her before age 17. Hannah's other incarnations included a princess, warrior and slave, although exact details of these lives are unknown''. Maya mentions that in one of her lives, Hana was a Buddhist. It is also mentioned that in some of her lives, Hana was named Hanje, Anora, Nan Haiane, Honni and Ian; many of these names appears to be variants of, or at the least similar to, her original name. A hundred years before the events of ''Soulmate, Hannah was named Annette and lived in Quebec, Canada. Thierry managed to track her down, but discovered that Maya had got there first and had murdered Annette, again before her seventeenth birthday. 20th Century In Hana's next incarnation, she is born in 20th century Montana and is named Hannah Snow. Fortunately, Hannah eventually recovers skills and abilities that she once held in each life, which prove crucial later in the novel Soulmate. Hannah Snow is regarded as being the incarnation that is "closest" to her original incarnation as Hana of the Three Rivers. Hannah is the only child of unnamed parents. Hannah mentions that her father passed away when she was young and it has just been her and her mother ever since. She is best friends with a girl named Chess (who is later revealed to be an Old Soul herself and Hannah's companion in at least two of her previous lives). Hannah was somewhat self-conscious about her birthmark and had at one point tried to have it removed using laser surgery, but it returned and she accepted she would always have it. Soulmate Hana's latest incarnation, Hannah Snow, starts finding notes in her own handwriting saying "Dead before Seventeen", "Remember the Three Rivers - Do Not Throw This Note Away", and then more recently, "He's coming," yet Hannah doesn't remember writing the notes. Concerned she may be going insane, she goes to a therapist, Paul, where, during an initial session, the office is inexplicably attacked by werewolves. More of Hannah's latent memories resurface, manifesting in the form of mental voices in differing tones: one with a tone resembling a dark wind, which remind her that werewolves are vulnerable to silver, and a second, crystalline voice which prevents her from killing one of the werewolves, opting instead to injure it and force it into retreating. Hannah realizes that the other wolf, a female (in truth the werewolf Lupe Acevedo) is protecting her from the wolf Hannah had injured, warning Paul not to harm her; both wolves escape the residence. To get the bottom of the goings-on, Paul decides to put her under hypnosis, beginning a past life regression. During the process, Paul learns from the entranced Hannah that she herself has been writing the notes about being dead before seventeen. Hannah also reveals her subconscious knowledge of the Night World and her recollections of Thierry, whom she not only tells Paul outright is "not human", but that she both loves Thierry and fears him, as he is the one who has been causing her death in each lifetime. Paul offhandedly asks Hannah to go back to when she first met Thierry, prompting her to go back to her first life, discovering that she is the reincarnation of Hana of the Three Rivers, a girl who lived during the Stone Age. During the first session, Hannah, at Paul's insistence, mentally becomes Hana again, describing her life among the tribe in great detail, in addition to her first encounter with Thierry, whom her tribe discovered and captured after learning that Thierry (a newly created vampire who had not really drunk blood since his revival) in a frenzy of bloodlust had attacked and fed from Ryl, a young relative of Hana. Hana insists that Arno, the co-leader of the tribe and leader of the hunters, bring Thierry to be examined by Old Mother, the tribe's spiritual leader, suspecting that Thierry might be from the spirit world. However, to Hana's disappointment, Old Mother cannot identify what Thierry is, and outwardly agrees with Arno's decision to destroy the vampire the next day, although Old Mother mentions that perhaps during the night she may be inspired by the gods in terms of what to do. Fearing that Thierry will be executed, before dawn Hana goes to Thierry's cage-prison inside of the caves and releases him. Being reluctant to leave, Hana forces Thierry to leave the cave by "herding" him, using his fear of hurting others again to force him out. Once outside, Hana tries to present him with food and water, prompting him to flee, but Thierry rejects both, making Hana realize he needs blood alone to survive. Bravely, she offers him her throat but Thierry, touched, resists his thirst and instead kisses Hana's hand as a sign of respect and then departs. Hana is left behind with a sadness and a strange foreboding that Thierry will die. Reunion with Thierry Hannah is broken out of the trance by Thierry himself, who had been informed by Lupe of her whereabouts and had come to find her, hiding below the office window. Realizing that she was reliving her past life, he used mental suggestion to awaken her, as Paul himself couldn't. Hannah returns home, shaken by her new revelations, and is there reunited with Thierry, who confirms the truth of her reincarnations and of the Night World's existence, including his identity as a vampire. He additionally reveals his role both in awakening her from the regression and in influencing her to come out of the house to see him. However, as the two reconcile and acknowledge their love, Hannah is quickly reminded of Thierry's role in her death over the years after he, at her insistence, drinks her blood, during which she sees a vision of a woman with dark hair warning her that Thierry is "evil". Furious, she demands that he leave and never try to contact her again. However, before departing, Thierry gives her a black rose ring, the symbol of the made vampires, which had been enchanted with protection spells. Hannah accepts the ring, although she later disposes of it. The night after Thierry's departure, Hannah is greeted by another guest: the first vampire, Maya, and the woman from Hannah's vision. Maya goes inside with Hannah and introduces herself as a vampire, in addition to being the one who converted Thierry into one. She warns Hannah not to trust him, as she claims Thierry can be obsessive, but Hannah, despite her own doubts regarding Thierry, is also deeply suspicious of Maya, whom she asks to leave. Maya soon returns, disguised as Thierry, and attacks Hannah, who manages to fend Maya off using a pencil, stabbing Maya's hand. Hannah attempts to go for help but is weakened by blood loss from Maya's attack. Fortunately, she is found by Thierry, but Hannah, now completely distrusting, demands that Thierry leave her alone. Thierry agrees to Hannah's demand, although he helps her to her friend Chess's house when she collapses. As Thierry carries her, before losing consciousness Hannah is able to see Thierry's hand, free of a pencil wound, and finally realizes that Thierry wasn't the one who attacked her earlier, and that he might not even be the one killing her all those times. This is confirmed when Hannah dreams of her first death and of her forgiving Thierry for murdering her that first time. During a second regression, Hannah relives her second life as the Egyptian priestess Ha-nakhat. She recalls her first meeting with Maya, as well as her death in this second life. However, this time, Hannah is able to see both as herself and as Ha-nakhat, and figures out that, through illusion spells, it was Maya and not Thierry who had been killing her over and over again all this time. Regretting her earlier repulsion of Thierry, Hannah recovers the black rose ring and follows him to Las Vegas. She is almost harmed by a vampire on the way, but upon recognizing the black rose ring, he fearfully brings Hannah to Thierry's home, where she is welcomed by Lupe and Nilsson, Thierry's driver. Thierry himself, however, is not home, but Hannah is allowed to stay until his return. Lupe later introduces her to several members of Circle Daybreak, the soulmate couples of the previous five books: Thea Harman and Eric Ross, James Rasmussen and Poppy North, Gillian Lennox and David Blackburn, Rashel Jordan and John Quinn, and Ash Redfern. Hannah takes to them immediately, and, in her anxiety over Maya and Thierry, she is comforted by Ash, who confides his own course of redemption to her when she notes that he is not with his soulmate (Mary-Lynnette). Some of Maya's operatives attack the mansion, trying to get to Hannah. Fortunately, the Daybreakers are able to drive them off whilst Hannah shelters in the mansion, promising not to let anything happen to her. However, soon after, Hannah encounters an enormous bat, the shapeshifted Maya, who kidnaps her. Hannah quickly loses consciousness. Hannah awakens in an abandoned mineshaft, under the Nevada desert, tied to a support beam. Maya, who believes that Thierry and Hannah planned to reunite again behind Maya's back, comes to the mine and reveals her plans to turn Hannah into a vampire, as when vampires die, they are not reincarnated; Maya muses that this means vampires have no souls. Once Hannah became a vampire, Maya intends to stake her, which would stop Hannah's reincarnation cycle, resulting in the permanent separation of Thierry and Hannah, as well as Maya's own triumph. To Hannah's horror, while she was unconscious, Maya had already initiated the change, showing that Hannah's features have grown more vampiric, and that her birthmark has nearly vanished due to the accelerated healing caused by vampire blood. Maya bites Hannah and also forces her to drink her blood, despite Hannah's attempts to resist. Maya theorizes that one more exchange of blood would end the process, and departs. Luckily, recalling several abilities gained from her previous lives, Hannah is able to fashion a knife from quartz and frees herself. She finds she cannot climb up out of the mine shaft, as it is too steep and high for a human to traverse. She instead uses her quartz knife to sharpen a piece of wood into a make-shift stake, intending to try and kill Maya, though she accepts she may not be physically strong enough. As a last resort, she considers trying to bring down the mine's support beams to make the roof cave in and hope she "dies quickly". She is given an opportunity to kill Maya when she returns, but she refuses to kill the vampire matriarch, to which Maya reacts with genuine surprise. Hannah chides herself for being 'weak', but couldn't bring herself to stab Maya in the back. Before Maya can bite Hannah again however, Thierry arrives to recover Hannah, and informs Maya that, despite her efforts, he will always love Hannah, even if Maya does complete her plan to destroy Hannah permanently. When maya threatens to kill Thierry, he states that even if she killed both of them, nobody she "hated" would be a witness to it, thus making the act pointless. Defeated, Maya is at first stunned at her own failure, but then reacts violently, grabbing the stake she had intended to use on Hannah and preparing to throw it at Thierry. Reacting quickly to save him, Hannah - who is still holding her own stake - throws herself at Maya, stake-first, stabbing her in the heart and fatally wounding her. Maya regards Hannah's action with a kind of respectful laughter before she dies. After this, Thierry and Hannah, along with the rest of Circle Daybreak, leave the mine. Final Outcome Soulmate ends with Hannah in Las Vegas, witnessing the dawn of her seventeenth birthday, something she'd never experienced in any of her other lifetimes. Alone with Thierry, he asks her if she would like to fully convert to being a made vampire to remain with him. However, she decides to remain human since, being an Old Soul, she will be reborn again, and Thierry will find her new reincarnation, reuniting them once again. However, this time there will be no danger from Maya, allowing the two to live in peace. Other Stories ''Witchlight In ''Witchlight, she is referred to by Keller as "Lady Hannah", indicating that Hannah has a prominent position in Circle Daybreak. Though not stated in the books, the title of Lady implies that Hannah may have married Thierry (this fact is confirmed on LJane Smith's Facebook page). ''Thicker Than Water and ''Ash and Mary-Lynnette: Those Who Favor Fire Hannah is mentioned in both short stories; in Thicker Than Water it is stated that she went to Paris with the Wild Powers, but was reported missing along with Iliana Dominick-Harman. Thierry is observed by others to be suffering due to her disappearance. In Ash and Mary-Lynette, Ash states that he had received a white rose pendant from her personally, which could be considered a high honor in Circle Daybreak. Physical Appearance Hannah is described as being rather lovely, with "straight fair hair and...clear gray eyes". Her most notable feature, though, is a "strawberry colored" birthmark across her left cheek; a "permanent" mark on her face that even cosmetic surgery was unable to remove. The birthmark is in truth a "psychic brand", caused accidentally by her soulmate Thierry, which Hannah has retained through every one of her lives. It is also the tell-tale sign of her identity, both for Thierry and Maya. Hannah's features have apparently varied somewhat over the years in her different incarnations, but stay mostly the same. However, Thierry explicitly states that Hannah's current incarnation is identical in appearance to that of her first incarnation, Hana. When Maya tried to turn Hannah into a vampire, Hannah's features became more vampiric - her skin became paler and her beauty increased; her birthmark also began to fade. As Hannah ultimately decides to stay human, her features presumably returned to normal after the vampire blood left her system. Personality Hannah is a gentle, compassionate and caring Old Soul. Hannah believes everybody deserves happiness if they earn it. Hannah is not a fighter but when push comes to shove she refuses to be a victim. Hannah has a certain grace and tranquillity about her that makes people feel comfortable but slightly awed in her presence. Thierry says Hannah reminds him a lot of Hellewise Hearth-Woman in the sense that, despite her beauty, the pure soul and wisdom in Hannah shows clearly. Hannah is also compared to Mary-Lynette Carter by Ash Redfern, who states they are both "wise". Hannah displays quick-thinking and resourcefulness, especially when she begins to recall her previous lives. Hannah has always been charismatic, with a strong desire to help others, in many of her lives. In her current incarnation, Hannah has a great interest in paleontology (which is ironic, considering her first incarnation lived during the Stone Age). Hannah herself mentions that she "gets good grades" and is graduating from high school at the early age of seventeen, indicating she is quite intelligent and hardworking. Trivia *In the Night World books Hannah is depicted as a graceful girl and her name implies just that. In Hebrew the name ‘Hannah’ means ‘graceful’. The name ‘Snow’ whose origin is unknown means ‘fair complexion’. *Hannah is compared to Hellewise Hearth-Woman in looks and personality - both are depicted as blonde and attractive, compassionate and wise. Interestingly, one of Hellewise's descendants, Thea Harman, is also said to bear a great resemblance to Hellewise; in Hannah's case, though, it appears to be her personality that is most often compared to Hellewise. *Hannah is one of the few characters to outright reject her soulmate (at least initially). *Ironically, Hannah goes to Las Vegas to find her soulmate, whereas in Secret Vampire, Poppy North goes to Vegas to get away from her soulmate, James, due to having been convinced her presence would endanger him. *Hannah is notable in being one of - if not the - only non-vampire characters to have been alive before the formation of the Night World and still be living (due to her status as an Old Soul). *Hannah is the first Old Soul to appear in the series. *Due to the fact that Night World law did not yet exist, Hannah and Thierry's relationship wouldn't have been considered illegal when they first met or in several of Hannah's subsequent incarnations. Appearances *''Soulmate'' *''Witchlight (mentioned) *Strange Fate'' Short Stories * Thicker Than Water (mentioned) * ''Ash and Mary-Lynnette: Those Who Favor Fire'' (mentioned) References Navigation Category:Characters Category:Females Category:Protagonists Category:Humans Category:Old Souls Category:Circle Daybreak